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Florida coaches face toughest chess match yet with former Tide colleagues
By Andrew Olson
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If you’re employed by an SEC school and are a member of the Nick Saban coaching tree, chances are you’re going to run into each other now and then.
That’s certainly the case this weekend in the SEC Championship Game, when one-time colleagues become schematic rivals. Florida head coach Jim McElwain and offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier already have squared off against former colleagues Kevin Steele (LSU defensive coordinator) and Jeremy Pruitt (Georgia defensive coordinator) this season, with mixed results.
This Saturday, McElwain and Nussmeier face their toughest chess match yet in Saban and Alabama defensive coordinator Kirby Smart.
In his second season at Alabama (2008), Saban modified his coaching staff. McElwain left Fresno State to become Alabama’s offensive coordinator. Smart was promoted from defensive backs coach to defensive coordinator. McElwain would coach alongside Saban and Smart through the 2011 season before accepting the head coaching position at Colorado State.
According to McElwain, a lot has changed in the four years since he was on the Crimson Tide coaching staff.
“These guys, what Coach Saban and Coach Kirby do on that side of the ball, it is rocket science,” McElwain said on the SEC Championship Game teleconference. “The way they break it down and what they know before you know, is fascinating. They’ve changed since I left. I don’t know what they call stuff. I don’t know their signals.”
Despite his background as a play-caller, McElwain leaves those duties to UF offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier. Saban and Smart know Nussmeier plenty well too, because he was McElwain’s successor at Alabama for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
With Nussmeier as offensive coordinator, the Crimson Tide won the 2012 national championship and followed up with an 11-2 season in 2013. The nature of Nussmeier leaving Alabama for Michigan in 2014, however, suggests that Saban told his offensive coordinator to find another job. McElwain believes Nussmeier improved the Alabama offense.
“I think the best thing that probably happened to Coach Saban was me getting the Colorado State job so they could get better on offense,” McElwain said.
McElwain’s sense of humor is often folksy and self-deprecating, but there’s definitely a friendly jab at his former mentor for getting rid of Nussmeier, the last offensive coordinator to lead Alabama to a national championship.
As coaches and competitors, McElwain and Nussmeier would love nothing more than to out-maneuver their former boss (Saban) and former colleague (Smart), but the odds are stacked against them.
Saban and Smart’s Alabama defense is ranked No. 2 in the FBS in total defense. The matchup between Florida’s young, thin offensive line and Alabama’s defensive line will be especially problematic.
In the words of an NFL scout, “I’ve never seen one team as loaded from seniors to freshmen as this team is. It’s amazing. They’re all huge and they all can move really well.”
Florida RB Kelvin Taylor is running effectively in his last three games (70 carries, 346 yards, 2 TD), but the the best rushing defense in college football belongs to the Crimson Tide, allowing only 78.9 yards per game against a schedule that includes Arkansas RB Alex Collins (248 carries, 1,392 yards) and LSU RB Leonard Fournette (271 carries, 1741 yards). Collins (12 carries, 26 yards) and Fournette (19 carries, 31 yards) were held to season lows by Alabama.
There’s also the problem that even as McElwain and Nussmeier are figuring out how to get wide receivers open, UF QB Treon Harris isn’t hitting them. Against Florida State, Harris went 19-of-38 for 134 yards. FSU’s defense is good (No. 16 total defense, No. 17 passing yards allowed), but it won’t get any easier facing Alabama (No. 2 total defense, No. 16 passing yards allowed).
McElwain knows that he and Nussmeier have to come up with some kind of new wrinkle to give the Gators’ offense an advantage.
“We’ll put something together to hopefully at least make them think,” McElwain said. “My biggest thing is I just hope they come away scratching their heads and say, ‘that was cute.’”
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
